Movie review: Redford turns on the charm in the breezy ‘Old Man & the Gun’

Ed Symkus More Content Now

Monday

Oct 1, 2018 at 12:10 PMOct 1, 2018 at 12:11 PM

If “The Old Man & the Gun” is, indeed, Robert Redford’s final film, he’ll be heading into retirement pretty close to the top of his game. His portrayal of the based-on-fact bank robber named Forrest Tucker (sorry, not the guy who played Sgt. O’Rourke on “F Troop”) gives us a Redford with a smile on his face, a twinkle in his eye, and a laidback approach to living life the way he wants to.

He makes his living by robbing banks, an activity that, at the time the film opens, in the summer of 1981, deep in the heart of Texas, he’s been doing for decades. Why? Because he just loves robbing banks. He used to do it alone, now he has a couple of long-in-the-tooth assistants (wonderfully played by Danny Glover and Tom Waits), and he’s very good at what he does ... always the gentleman, never getting violent, never even raising his voice. Unfortunately, luck hadn’t been completely on his side, and on numerous occasions throughout his illustrious career, he was caught and sent to jail. But Forrest turned out to be as good at breaking out of prison as he was at committing the crimes that landed him there. He’d find a way to run off, rob more banks, get caught again, sneak out again ... you get the picture.

Based on a 2003 David Grann article in the New Yorker, the script was adapted by director David Lowery (“A Ghost Story,” “Pete’s Dragon”), and the film jumps right in at a point where Forrest, in his 70’s, pulls off one of his solo jobs, gets away cleanly, and keeps it clean by stopping to help a woman whose car has broken down. (Really, would anyone doing that ever be considered a fleeing suspect?)

The woman is Jewel (Sissy Spacek), a widow, living out on a ranch spread, fairly content with life. They get to comfortably chatting in a restaurant while waiting for a tow truck, and they share some nice banter (and the two actors immediately achieve that hard-to-find onscreen chemistry). But when she asks what he does for work, he refuses to tell her, although he has no problem writing it down and showing her.

Meanwhile, word of the robbery gets out to local detective John Hunt (Casey Affleck), a happy husband and father who’s about to turn 40, and quickly develops an interest in this fellow who one witness refers to as a “gentleman bank robber,” and others who have seen him in action have said he, too, appears to be quite happy.

The fast-moving script, abetted by a sprightly, jazzy musical score, offers up a quick series of robberies all over Texas, shows newspaper headlines of the events, follows the friendly relationship that’s taking shape between Forrest and Jewel, and puts John on the case.

The spotlight continues to smoothly shift between different characters. So, we get John having discussions with Teddy and Waller (Glover and Waits) as they carefully plan out the next job; or maybe John, alone, devising ways to avoid getting caught; or John being both frustrated by and admiring of the way Forrest operates.

Though Redford’s easygoing performance is the mainstay of the film, there are plenty of other highlights, among them a Christmas monolog delivered in one-of-a-kind style by Waits; the serious theme of aging that’s kept kind of light; and a perfectly designed and placed montage of “jail breaks” by Forrest that’s played out via clips from past Redford performances and doctored “mug shot” photos made for the film.

This is a sweet and breezy movie. It’s OK to know that, in the end, the lovable scoundrel Forrest gets caught ... again. But Lowery and company will undoubtedly leave audiences smiling, looking the same way Redford does when his character is at his happiest.

— Ed Symkus writes about movies for More Content Now. He can be reached at esymkus@rcn.com.